3,741 research outputs found

    Eubulides as a 20th-century semanticist

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    It is the purpose of the present paper to highlight the figure of Eubulides, a relatively unknown Greek philosopher who lived ±405–330 BC and taught at Megara, not far from Athens. He is mainly known for his four paradoxes (the Liar, the Sorites, the Electra, and the Horns), and for the mutual animosity between him and his younger contemporary Aristotle. The Megarian school of philosophy was one of the main sources of the great Stoic tradition in ancient philosophy. What has never been made explicit in the literature is the importance of the four paradoxes for the study of meaning in natural language: they summarize the whole research programme of 20th century formal or formally oriented semantics, including the problems of vague predicates (Sorites), intensional contexts (Electra), and presuppositions (Horns). One might say that modern formal or formally oriented semantics is essentially an attempt at finding linguistically tenable answers to problems arising in the context of Aristotelian thought. It is a surprising and highly significant fact that a contemporary of Aristotle already spotted the main weaknesses of the Aristotelian paradigm

    The connection between ma`ani nahwi in Arabic and modistae in Latin: An approach to the History of Linguistic studies

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    The research emphasizes on the connection between the Arabic concept of maÑani nahwi and modistae in Latin. In order to identify this connection, the researcher has to elaborate on the role of Aristotle’s categories in influencing the concept of modistae in the Middle Ages first. The paper will then reevaluate the influence of Muslim philosophers such as al-Farabi (c.870-c.950 AD), Avicenna (980-1037 AD) and Averoes (c.1126-c.1198 AD) in Latin and clarify the role of Jurjani (d.1078 AD) in introducing his concept of nazm towards ma`ani nahwi. The result of the research will also enhance the understanding of the relationship between syntax and semantic which has not been effectively clarified within the framework of traditional Arabic grammatical theory

    Inquiries into Proto-World Literatures

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    Western studies on Persian metrical system debate the linguistic origins of quatrains, (Per. robāʽiyyāt - Ar. rubāʽiyyāt) in Arabic, and regard prosodic Persian schemes independently of Arabic counterparts, despite reciprocally influenced metrical patterns. Attempts to dismantle Arabo-centric critical inferences about Persian metres are largely prosodic observations of the robāʽi/rubāʽī, thus neglecting their ontological evolution from a metrical scheme into an aesthetically experimental frame in Persian and Arabic poetry. This study closely investigates the spread of robāʽī/rubāʽī from Persian to Arabic literature employing a holistic culturally embedded methodology to reread their linkages in global terms, as an example of an inherited “Proto-World Literature”

    Jaina Tantra : SOAS Jaina Studies Workshop 2015

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    The relationship between syntax and semantic in the case of Ma`ani Nahwi in Arabic and the idea of Modistae in Latin

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    The research emphasizes on the relation of the Arabic concept of “ma`ani nahwi” and the Latin “modistae”. In order to establish this relation, the researcher illustrates the role of Aristotle’s categories in influencing the concept of the Medieval Latin “modistae”. This is followed by a reevaluation of the influence of Arabic philosophers, such as al-Farabi (c.870-c.950 CE), Avicenna (980-1037 CE) and Averoes (c.1126-c.1198 CE) on Latin philosophy and linguistics, especially Jurjani’s (d.1078 CE) role in introducing his concept of “nazm” towards “ma`ani nahwi”. The research contributes to the understanding of the relationship between syntax and semantics which has not been effectively clarified within the framework of traditional Arabic grammatical theory

    al-Attas’ philosophy of history on the arrival and proliferation of Islam in the Malay world

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    This article examines the philosophy of history of Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas on the theory of the arrival and spread of Islam in the Malay world, particularly in his work ‘Historical Facts and Fictions’. This philosophy of history is consequent to al-Attas' critical research contained in his previous works such as ‘Preliminary Statement on a General Theory of The Islamization of the Malay-Indonesian Archipelago’ (1969), ‘Islam in the Malay History and Culture’ (1972) and ‘The Correct Date of the Terengganu Inscription’ (1972). This study analyses these works and his other works to look into the aspects of history and historiography contained in the philosophy of history of al-Attas on the arrival and spread of Islam in the Malay world in terms of their scope, sources and history methods. This study found that in terms of epistemology al-Attas has contributed in creating a theoretical framework and a novel approach to the philosophy of history of the history of Islam in the Malay world

    The Science of Architecture. Representations of Portuguese national architecture in the 19th century World Exhibitions: archetypes, models and images

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    Fine feathers : some aspects of the art of costume : inaugural lecture delivered at Rhodes University

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    Inaugural lecture delivered at Rhodes UniversityRhodes University Libraries (Digitisation

    Holistic methodologies in the study of Scotland’s early stone castles and landscapes (c.1050-c.1350 CE) with reference to the Earldom of Orkney and the Lordship of Galloway

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    The historiography of Scottish castles was dominated, until the 1960s, by great works which defined the field for generations of historians and archaeologists. Since then several major excavations, intensive wide-ranging fieldwork and most recently, targeted topographic surveys, have brought a new body of evidence to the discussion. Familiar themes, however, still dominate how castles are understood: the dichotomy between ‘native’ and ‘newcomer’, the debate over function and form, for example. This thesis brings to bear the new body of evidence alongside a specific focus on castles and their landscapes for the period of c.1050-c.1350. It begins, firstly, with an examination of the full body of castle sites and contemporary secular power centres, following the typology-oriented categorisation of sites by RCAHMS (now HES). Included in this are sites in the formal typology of crannogs, brochs and duns, which evidence suggests were occupied for some or all of the period under discussion. The 12th to 13th centuries demonstrated the peak of first phase of castle occupation. There is a resultant impact on what might be expected from landscapes of lordship, borne out in the second section of the thesis, the regional studies. The first regional study examines the evidence for castles in the Earldom of Orkney, which conventional thinking suggests is home to Scotland’s earliest stone castle. Contemporary parallels are established with Norwegian and Swedish castles. Study of the landscape context suggests that the builders of castle sites in the 12th-century Earldom relied not on terrestrial, landed wealth but political authority and kinship with the comital family. Substantial wealth, derived from maritime exploitation, is also likely. The second regional study, of the Lordship of Galloway, looks at the emergence of stone castles there in connection to the political developments within the polity. Landscape assessment hints at a function of castle sites in the Lordship in relation to transhumance practice and fishing. The diversity of architectural expression of lordship is discussed. Study of the place-name context, useful in determining the status of farms or townships, reveals the unparalleled linguistic (and cultural) complexity of south-west Scotland, with resultant impact on underlying structures of local lordship. In the cases of Orkney and Galloway, trends are apparent which argue for the early stone castles of Scotland to be considered within highly contingent personal, political and social terms. Though they represent evidence for larger historical and architectural trends, the most compelling interpretation of these monuments frames their appearance in relation to their builders’ histories, connections, ambitions and preferences. Where physical evidence is lacking for castles, landscapes around known castle sites provide the material to understand lost monuments by their imprint on their surroundings
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